Cape awarded grant to fight teen suicides

Idyllic as the area may appear to tourists, the Cape and Islands has one of the highest youth suicide rates in the state.

CYNTHIA McCORMICK

MASHPEE — Idyllic as the area may appear to tourists, the Cape and Islands has one of the highest youth suicide rates in the state.

At one and a half times the state average rate for people ages 10 to 24, "it's not a statistic we can be proud of," said Tim Lineaweaver, director of behavioral health at the Community Health Center of Cape Cod, based in Mashpee.

With a new $300,000 grant from the state Department of Public Health, the center and a coalition of community agencies have banded together to combat youth suicide on Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.

They plan to train every teacher, school bus driver, cafeteria worker and janitor in the area's schools to recognize signs of youth depression and find appropriate avenues to help, Lineaweaver said yesterday during a press conference at the Community Health Center of Cape Cod.

According to the health department, during the years 2002 to 2006 there were six to seven young people who committed suicide per 100,000 people each year on the Cape and Islands. The state average was four suicides in that age group per 100,000 people.

Nobody is sure why the numbers are so high in this area, but mental health officials pointed to problems with stigma, insurance, limited availability of child psychiatrists and lack of transportation to mental health specialists. Alcohol and substance abuse play a role in some cases, they said.

"Many people have been completely unaware of the problem," Lineaweaver said.

But a highly publicized rash of teen suicides on Nantucket has put a spotlight on the issue.

Since February of 2007, four teens — three males and a 17-year-old girl — have killed themselves on Nantucket. The most recently reported case occurred in August, when an 18-year-old ready to head off to college in New York killed himself in the state forest off Rugged Road.

The young people who died included athletes and scholars, individuals not so different from Sam D'Olimpio, a 15-year-old from Barnstable who died in 2005.

Bright, friendly and a gifted athlete, he assured his doctor and therapist a day before his death that he was not thinking of killing himself, said his mother, Joan Owens. "It's the ones you wouldn't think of" who slip through the cracks, she said.

Looking back, she sees how her son, a football, lacrosse and basketball player, felt the need to perform well.

His aunt Emily Bachand, of Harwich, said her sweet-tempered nephew would vomit before games.

"He didn't want all that pressure," said Owens, who brought a photograph of her blond son to the press conference. "He just wanted to play."

In addition to school employees, students also will be trained to recognize signs of depression and suicide risk in their friends, said Peter Swenson, executive director of Nantucket Family & Children's Health Services. "Kids go to kids first," he said.

Nantucket already has established an after-school canteen where students can discuss their issues and has put a licensed mental health professional in the high school.

"Ninety percent of all suicides can be prevented. That's what gives us hope," said Gregory A. Miller of the Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention.